I met her in New York. Sophisticated, had studied history in college, someone who talked about the polishing effects in the sculpture of Bernini. Beyond that we had a clear case of "high enthusiasm" for each other. So, I didn't want to take her just anywhere. I understood that this would require staging.

Boston, one of the places where the American cradle of liberty was hewn, is a super choice for passing the 4th of July. That's where the day moved, to Boston, but it began in Manhattan. I left one friend's upper West Side flat and got on the Bolt Bus, $20 to Boston with on-board wifi internet and a plug for a laptop: sleek, clean and quick. Dropped me at Boston's South Station and my friend, Nancy, picked me up.

Cancun is so new that it seems almost artificial. It's an island jutting into the Caribbean Sea, off the east coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. According to Wikipedia "When development was started on Jan. 23, 1970, Isla Cancún had only three residents, caretakers of the coconut plantation of Don José de Jesús Lima, who lived on Isla Mujeres, and there were only 117 people living in nearby Puerto Juárez, a fishing village and military base."